Friday, November 9, 2007

San Cristobal de la Habana El Principe


Country: Cuba

Length: 4 3/8 (110 mm)
Gauge: 42
Weight: 7.46 gr.
Format: Minuto
Tobacco Procedence: Vuelta Abajo
Factory: La Corona


Info: San Cristobal de la Habana was officially launched in Havana on November 20th, 1999. It was named after the original name of Havana which dates back to the 16th century.

Before the Revolution, a brand by the name of San Cristobal de la Habana existed, and it was produced until the Revolution. However, this new brand is completely unrelated and not a resurrection of the old brand.

The brand initially launched with 4 cigars (El Morro, El Principe, La Fuerza, and La Punta). In 2004, to celebrate the brand's fifth anniversary, 3 additional cigars were produced for the V Anniversary Humidor and eventually released for public sale. These new cigars, the Officios, Mercaderes and Muralla, also feature an additional "La Casa del Habano" band as these cigars were only available at La Casa del Habano retailers.

Appearance: This was a pretty little stick, a nice even roll with no visible veins or soft spot. the oily wrapper had a decidedly cinnamon looking reddish hue to it.

Pre-Light: Clip was simple, and the pre light draw was nice and easy. The noted I picked up were black pepper and earthiness. Pretty straightforward.


Burn/Draw: The burn and draw on this cigar was a breeze. This was surprising to me because in the past I have had a myriad of issues on minuto sized cigars (namely Partagas Shorts). But this was not the case with this stogie in the slightest. It was a self correcting beauty with an nice draw that produced ample amounts of smoke. As for the ash, as shown above the ash was rather dark and mottled. It was fairly firm and held for an appropriate length. It took me about an hour to smoke this little guy.

Flavors: This was a pretty decent cigar. Started off very sweet with notes of cinnamon, nutmeg and honey. About half way through the cigar started to lose its sweetness, and regained more clasic Cuban cigar notes, with the trademark earthiness leading the way. Over the last third or so there were a plethora of woody notes and a nice burst of pepper finished it off. Overall this was a nice straightforward habano smoke that could find a spot in your humidor.

TomC